20 best superhero TV shows of 2018, ranked

Photo Credit: The Tick/Amazon Studios

8. The Tick

There is no more appropriate way to sum up The Tick than with the age old “it’s so bad, it’s good.” However, the beauty about this show is that it’s fully self-aware of its own ridiculousness and, as a result, it uses that to its advantage.

Created exclusively for Amazon video, the show debuted six episodes during the summer of 2017 before returning to air the second half of its premiere season at the beginning of this year. It centers on the titular character – a mysteriously nigh invulnerable superhero with no recollection of who or what he was before becoming a superhero. Whether or not the show intends to explain his origins remain to be seen but, if it continues to produce such out there offerings, it could easily get away without doing so.

With tongue-in-cheek characters, witty dialogue, purposely questionable CGI and a villain known simply as “The Terror,” The Tick is, in many ways, like one of the corny superhero TV shows from the late ’90s that kept you hooked throughout each episode – the only difference is that this show knows exactly what it is doing and thus, it knows how to continually subvert our expectations. It’s intentionally bad and, in being so, it’s incredibly clever.

As the character himself originated as a superhero spoof, it’s no surprise that the show adopts such a boisterous and satirical approach. Given that The Tick’s creator was also behind the TV series, it’s exactly what it should be, and so much more.

The second part of Season 1 is every bit as whacky as its predecessor and it has only left us more ready from the show’s eventual second season.